Altice Creating Slower Download Tier for New HFC Customers

Altice's throttling back of upload speeds on its hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network puts it in line with other ISPs and the industry, a spokesperson emailed us on Monday. Altice said new customers and customers who change, upgrade or downgrade their service, effective July 12, will get upload speeds 15 to 30 Mbps slower than existing customers. For example, incumbent subscribers to the Optimum Online service have upload speeds of 35 Mbps, while new subscribers will have 5 Mbps. Upload speeds for its 1 Gig service will be 50 Mbps and remain unchanged for incumbent customers but drop to 35 Mbps for new customers. Download speeds will be unchanged. Altice said it offers symmetrical speeds on its fiber network. It said its network "continues to perform very well despite the significant data usage increases during the pandemic, and the speed tiers we offer, ranging from 100Mbps to 1 Gig on HFC and fiber, provide customers with flexibility to choose the best package for their needs." It said it's "hyper focused" on fiber expansion.